Nick Saban’s “conversation” could make it lot more difficult for UK to land Justin Rogers

By LARRY VAUGHT

Now Kentucky football fans know how numerous college basketball coaches feel when they spend enormous time recruiting a player only to see UK coach John Calipari come in late and sometimes take a player away.

Kentucky looked in great shape to get a commitment from five-star Michigan offensive lineman Justin Rogers when he set a decision date for May 20 and had UK on his final five along with Michigan, LSU, Tennessee and Georgia.

But now suddenly a new finalist — Alabama — has emerged. Rogers posted on social media that he had an “amazing conversation with Coach (Nick) Sabama. I officially have a new top 6. Roll Tide!!”

Rogers — who got his first scholarship offer from Kentucky three years ago — is scheduled to visit Georgia before his commitment date. No word on when or if he’ll visit Alabama, but it sure seems that was after his social media post.

Rivals.com ranks Rogers at the nation’s 10th best player at any position in the 2020 recruiting class and he would be UK’s highest ranked recruit since Tim Couch and first five-star recruit since Matt Elam. However, that seems like a much more difficult task now that Saban reached out to Rogers and he obviously liked what he heard.

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Larry Vaught

7 comments

Much better new than getting a commitment and then losing them to Alabama. This way if he chooses UK, the big dogs were already involved. Going against Alabama for players is a big step up for UK. If we can just win a few, our culture in football has changed. I never thought we could compete in a conventional way in football in the SEC. Stoops has done a fantastic job and deserves praise and lots of money.

Justin, you’ll get a lot more attention at Kentucky and better coaching. You’ll
be closer to home, so family and friends can see you play more often. You’ll be more a number than a real person at Bama so kept in mind that your NAME resonates BIG TIME with The BIG BLUE NATION-come on HOME man, and let
Stoops put you in the NFL.

This will be Stoops ultimate recruiting challenge. Can he get a 5* player when a team like Alabama wants him? I agree with HFB that he will get more love and more opportunity to shine as a Cat, but he will get far better coaching at Bama. At Bama, he has a better than a puncher’s chance of playing for a national title. Here, he will be lucky to ever play for a conference title. But with more PT and spotlight here, he may be able to serve his NFL aspirations better. That might make the difference. If so, Bob just needs to find 5 more just like him.